A pirated version of Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls has reportedly surfaced online, with players claiming it runs considerably better than the official PC release. This improved performance is being attributed to the game's robust anti-cheat and DRM systems, which some theorize are excessively impacting the retail version's performance.
Users on social media have shared their experiences comparing the pirated copy to the official Steam version. One user, JustinSGX, noted that the cracked version utilized only about 34 percent of their i7 6700K processor, while the retail version consumed over 57 percent. They further suggested that the retail game's real-time decryption of itself in 64kb chunks on a single CPU core contributes to this performance disparity.
Other players have corroborated these findings. Content creator ShaudL observed through debugging that a significant portion of the game's memory usage was dedicated to anti-cheat software. Another user, MattWilliamson9, reported that the pirated version ran ten times better, with CPU usage around 45 percent even on high settings. Similarly, user bar_barXII stated that an unofficial version achieved a solid 60fps on medium settings with 40-50% CPU and GPU usage, a stark contrast to the retail version which struggled to maintain 45fps even at a lower resolution.
While Arc System Works released a patch last week aimed at improving performance, the ongoing reports suggest that the underlying issues may persist. The presence of Sony's SDK runtime application, which reportedly launches five times upon game startup, has also been cited as a potential cause for sluggish performance. Despite these protective measures, the game has been cracked and datamined for upcoming DLC characters in less than two weeks since its release.